When Mabui looked up, she saw a pair of enormous ice crystal wings several meters long slowly flapping behind someone.
The person was dressed like a ronin, with nothing particularly remarkable about him.
His hair was white, yet his face had almost no wrinkles, making it impossible to tell his age.
His delicate features made it hard to tell whether he was male or female.
At this moment, everyone from Kumogakure, including Mabui, was on full alert. It was this person who had created and triggered the Heavenly Descending Cloud Vortex just now.
He had caused massive losses to Kumogakure.
"Who are you?"
After Byaku landed, the Kumogakure shinobi asked in a grim voice.
When Byaku spoke, his voice sounded youthful, "I am Byaku of the Yuki Clan."
His voice carried powerfully, spreading layer after layer across the area.
Kumogakure wasn't occupied only by its own people. There were also many spies from other villages.
He wanted every village to know that Kirigakure still had powerful experts.
"The Yuki Clan?"
The Kumogakure shinobi looked at each other.
The Yuki Clan had once been one of Kirigakure's great clans.
Naturally, everyone knew of them.
But the Yuki Clan was supposed to have been completely wiped out by Yagura Karatachi several years ago.
They hadn't expected such a powerful expert to still exist.
"You actually dare attack our Kumogakure?", Cee shouted angrily.
A faint smile remained on Byaku's face, as if he didn't care about Kumogakure's attitude at all.
"This is retaliation and a warning for your attack on the Land of Water."
"If there is a next time, I will destroy the entire Hidden Cloud Village."
His words rang out with force, carried far into the distance by his Wind Release technique.
Once Byaku was sure plenty of people had heard him, his goal had been achieved.
Mabui and Cee both turned pale. Looking at Kumogakure in what looked like the end of the world, they had no doubt he was capable of doing exactly that.
"You...", Mabui had just begun to speak.
But Byaku ignored them completely, dragging his long ice wings behind him as he flew into the sky.
In the blink of an eye, he disappeared beyond the horizon.
Cee looked toward Mabui. After the Raikage had left, Mabui and Dodai had stayed behind to manage the village's affairs, making Mabui the one in charge.
Mabui shook her head, "Rescue the survivors first. Send this information to the Raikage and tell them to return immediately."
At that moment, Dodai also arrived, "Mabui, who was that just now?"
Dodai had been busy arranging evacuation shelters throughout Kumogakure. The fact that most of the villagers had survived was largely thanks to him.
Mabui repeated everything Byaku had said.
Dodai frowned deeply after hearing it, "That's impossible. If Kirigakure had someone this strong, it wouldn't have ended up in its current state."
Mabui naturally understood what he meant and could only reply,
"We'll only understand what's going on once we have more information."
Dodai sighed, "Let's notify the Raikage first."
———
[Out at Sea]
A gigantic ox-headed octopus swam through the ocean at incredible speed, with one of its tentacles raised above the surface.
The Raikage, Darui, and the other Kumogakure shinobi all wore gloomy expressions.
A closer look revealed that several members of their group were missing.
Kirigakure's Kyokotsu and Yagura Karatachi had clung to them like persistent parasites, pursuing them nonstop for an entire day and night.
Even after using up their last high-frequency vibration bomb, they still couldn't escape Kirigakure's pursuit.
After that, casualties began to mount.
In the battles that followed, Kyokotsu no longer fought the Raikage at all. Instead, he specifically targeted the other Kumogakure shinobi.
Although everyone Kumogakure had brought this time was an elite, they couldn't even last more than a couple of exchanges against a Bone Release master.
The Kumogakure shinobi had fought desperately to save Kaifu and the teammate who had summoned the Cloud Hawk.
They had already completed about three-fifths of their journey.
A little farther ahead, they would enter the waters of the Land of Lightning.
Killer B had been carrying the group away at full speed for ten straight hours.
During those ten hours, Kaifu had never sensed himself being scanned by the enemy.
He let out a small sigh of relief.
"Boss, I think Kirigakure has given up chasing us."
The Raikage sat there looking exhausted. The octopus's tentacle wasn't very large, so everyone had to use chakra to stick themselves to it in order to avoid being thrown off at such high speed.
He said nothing.
After Darui nodded, he spoke to the teammate beside him.
"Send a message back to the village. Tell them to come meet us."
The Kumogakure shinobi beside him was the one who had contracted the Cloud Hawk. The hawk normally lived near Kumogakure and had been brought along specifically for intelligence and communications.
He bit his finger and quickly formed hand seals.
He slammed his palm down.
With a puff, the Cloud Hawk was summoned.
The Cloud Hawk looked listless after appearing, and the injuries on its body had already been treated.
It had been struck by hail while near the outskirts of Kumogakure.
As soon as it appeared, it immediately cried out to its master.
After listening, its master, Kass, went through several changes in expression, clearly shocked.
When the Cloud Hawk finally finished, Kass immediately reported to the Raikage.
"Boss, our village was attacked."
"What?"
The Raikage's whole body shook, his face filled with disbelief.
"Who would dare attack Kumogakure? How bad are the losses?"
Kass still looked stunned.
"It was a Kirigakure expert. The village suffered severe losses."
"More than half the buildings above ground have been destroyed, and three thousand people are dead."
Hearing that number, Killer B suddenly sped up, clearly wanting to get back as quickly as possible.
The Raikage's face became dark.
"Didn't the Space-Time Chakra Cannon stop them?"
Kass shook his head, "I don't know. They didn't tell the Cloud Hawk."
Darui spoke from the side, "No wonder Kyokotsu and the others kept chasing us."
The Raikage also realized it.
Kyokotsu and the others had obviously been trying to delay their return.
They had been buying time for that Kirigakure expert to attack Kumogakure.
After speaking with the Cloud Hawk again, Kass continued his report.
"Boss, Konoha has occupied the coastline of the Land of Wind."
"They've also set up a large number of seawater desalination devices along the coast. They've announced that any civilians from the Land of Wind who surrender to them will receive free fresh water and help building oases."
"Konoha is advancing while simultaneously carving up the territory of the Land of Wind."
Only then did the Raikage realize why Konoha had stopped earlier.
They had simply been setting up the desalination equipment.
In other words, this trip to Kirigakure had brought them nothing but losses.
Worse still, because they had left the village, Kumogakure had suffered catastrophic damage.
The only thing they had gained was intelligence.
They now knew Kirigakure had Kyokotsu, a powerful Bone Release expert.
And they had learned about the Kirigakure expert who attacked the village.
But in exchange, they had exposed the existence of their high-frequency vibration bombs.
Kumogakure had truly suffered a total loss.
"As for Sunagakure..."
The Raikage considered it for a moment.
"Have Dodai and the others send them some supplies."